Response of Cocoa to Different Fertilizer Regimes on Some Selected Soils of Southwestern Nigeria

Field experiments were conducted at four locations (Aisegba, Ayedun, Ikoro and Ise) in Ekiti State, Southwester Nigeria to determine the response of cocoa to different fertilizer regimes. Three fertilizer regimes were used (soil test value, Blanket and control). Significant (p<0.05) increase in number of cocoa pods were observed from all plots in all locations as a result of fertilizer application. The number of cocoa pods as determined by the different fertilizer regimes are in the order soil test> blanket > control, while for soil series it was in the order Makun series> Ondo series> Fagbo series. Number of cocoa pods produced from plots that received soil test rate fertilizer application almost doubled that of control. The effect of management (fertilizer application) in controlling cocoa production was observed to be very strong and even stronger than that of soil types at all experimental locations. The study recommends that farmers should use fertilizer rate based on soil test.